Dow futures fall more than 300 points as Wall Street grapples with rising Covid-19 cases, earnings

U.S. stock futures fell early Wednesday morning following a mixed session in which traders weighed a recent uptick in coronavirus infections. Dow Jones Industrial Average futures traded 325 points lower. S&P 500 futures and Nasdaq-100 futures also traded in negative territory.

The Dow fell more than 200 points during regular trading and the S&P 500 slipped 0.3%. The Nasdaq Composite, meanwhile, advanced 0.6%. Tuesday’s divergent market action came as names that would benefit from people staying at home — such as Amazon and Zoom Video — rose broadly while stocks dependent on the economy reopening declined.

Daily U.S. coronavirus cases have risen by a record average of 69,967 over the past week, data compiled by Johns Hopkins University showed. Meanwhile, coronavirus-related hospitalizations are up 5% or more in 36 states, according to data from the Covid Tracking Project.

This uptick has led some countries to reinstate certain lockdown measures. In the U.S., the state of Illinois has ordered Chicago to shut down indoor dining.

Wall Street also pored through the latest batch of corporate earnings for the previous quarter, including those of tech giant Microsoft. Microsoft reported better-than-expected earnings and revenue for the previous quarter as sales from its cloud business grew sharply. However, the stock dipped 0.3% in after-hours trading.

First Solar also posted quarterly numbers that beat analyst expectations, sending its shares up about 10% after the bell. Boeing, General Electric, UPS and Fiat Chrysler are among the companies set to report Wednesday before the bell.

Dow futures fall more than 300 points as Wall Street grapples with rising Covid-19 cases, earnings, CNBC, Oct 28